IT'S a legacy that tragic teenagers Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis would have been proud of - helping hard-up students achieve academic success.

At last something positive has emerged from one of the most appalling crimes ever witnessed in Birmingham with the launch of a living memorial to the two girls who were gunned down in January 2003.

The Letisha and Charlene Education Awards were unveiled yesterday during a ceremony at Aston Villa FC attended by the girls' mothers, Marcia Shakespeare and Beverley Thomas, friends, teachers and community leaders.

The scheme has been inspired by the Birmingham Mail with the backing of Aston Pride, Josiah Mason College, the South Aston Community Association, the Birmingham Mail Charitable Trust and the Digbeth Trust.

Awards of #2,000 each will be given to five deserving students who live in the Aston area to help them with their studies.

Mary Slade, Letisha and Charlene's former textiles teacher at Josiah Mason College, said: "The girls would have been so proud.

"As students, they would have known of friends struggling through college while waitressing or doing cleaning jobs. These awards will mean students will be able to give their all to studying."

Mary added: "Letisha was such a bubbly character and Charlene had a wicked sense of humour. They were both talented artists who already had a good track record at the college."

Friend Neveilla Briscoe, aged 18, is managing director of eight-strong group Alternative Music Industries, who sang a song dedicated to the girls at yesterday's launch.

Neveilla said: "I know they'd be made up that they are being remembered in this way. They were shot and taken from us, but something positive has come from their deaths."

AMI's Matthew Benjamin, 19, said: "I'll never forget the day Charlene and Letisha died, but I would never have believed their deaths could unite so many people.

"It's brought out a lot of good in the young people of Aston."

Dr Bob Tyler, director of St George's Post 16 Centre, where Charlene and her sister Sophie attended youth club, said: "It is wonderful to see that people are able to look forward after such an appalling tragedy."

The two mothers are currently helping to create a peace garden at the centre in memory of their daughters.

Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood praised the Mail for not behaving like the rest of the media circus and vanishing once publicity over the New Year shootings faded.

"The support of a community newspaper has been so important," he said.

Mail editor Steve Dyson said: "This project is a demonstration of our commitment to the community. It will keep alive the memories of Letisha and Charlene and provide new opportunities for struggling students."

Simon Topman, of Aston Pride, said Aston now had the safest streets of any inner city area.

"Education bears fruit long term. It will not be next week but in 20 years' time that we will see the benefit of this."